When mother and daughter share one heart, their power becomes unbreakable.
Under the perfect synchronization between Ulu and Urutia, their combined Ice-Make spell unleashed devastating force.
The G5 Base Commander, Vice Admiral Vergo, wrapped in full-body Armament Haki, was shattered in an instant.
He couldn't even hold for a second before his defenses collapsed—
defeated, gravely wounded, and knocked unconscious.
The sailors across the entire G5 fortress stood frozen, eyes wide in disbelief, hearts pounding with shock.
No one knew how much time passed before the silence was finally broken—
"Ah—!"
"Vice Admiral Vergo!"
"Mr. Vergo!"
"How could this happen?!"
"The invincible Vice Admiral Vergo… beaten so easily?!"
Shouts of disbelief and panic echoed one after another through the fortress halls.
"Headquarters! This is G5 Fortress—do you copy? Please respond immediately!"
The burly Commodore grabbed the den-den mushi, trembling as he called the Naval Headquarters.
"This is Naval Headquarters," a voice from the Intelligence Division answered quickly. "G5, what's happening over there?"
"It's Fairy Tail! Fairy Tail has invaded—ahhh!"
Before the Commodore could finish, a deafening impact rang out.
His body flew backward, crashing into a steel wall. Blood splattered—
dead on the spot.
"Commodore?! Commodore, respond! What's going on?!"
The intelligence officer's voice kept shouting through the receiver—
But only a cold, steady voice answered.
"Tell your Fleet Admiral Sengoku," said Sugisawa Yuuto, his tone calm and deadly,
"I'm giving you two days. Send someone who can actually speak.
If time runs out—G5 Fortress will vanish from the map."
With that, Yuuto closed the den-den mushi.
A sphere of pitch-black lightning formed slowly between his hands, swelling larger and larger until its diameter exceeded a hundred meters.
When Yuuto raised his arm, the orb ascended into the dark clouds above.
Crackle… BOOM!
The sky erupted with the roar of thunder, a doomsday storm brewing overhead.
A suffocating shadow of death hung over everyone in G5.
Every sailor felt it—the instinctive certainty that if that black lightning fell,
the entire fortress would be obliterated in an instant.
From that moment on, G5 Base was Sugisawa Yuuto's hostage.
Marine Headquarters — Marineford
"Nani?! Fairy Tail defeated Vergo and took the entire G5 Base hostage?! Are you certain it was Sugisawa Yuuto himself?!"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's furious roar shook the main building.
"Yes, sir!" the green-haired Commodore Brandon stammered. "I confirmed it with the remaining Rear Admirals at G5—it was indeed Fairy Tail's president, the Fifth Emperor, Sugisawa Yuuto! There's a massive sphere of black lightning floating above the base. If it falls, the whole fortress will be wiped out!"
"Damn it!" Sengoku slammed a fist onto his desk. "That man from Fairy Tail… We've compromised, we've shown goodwill—and in return, he humiliates us again and again!"
The den-den mushi rang.
Bluu~ bluu~ bluu~
He connected the line—
"Sengoku, what are you waiting for?!" a furious voice thundered. "It's because your Marines have shown weakness! You've let those Fairy Tail bastards think the Marines and the Government are easy prey!"
"This time, we won't let them off!" another voice bellowed.
"Even if it costs us dearly, they must learn the fate of those who provoke the Marines and the World Government!"
It was the voice of the Five Elders—the highest rulers of the world.
"I understand," Sengoku growled through gritted teeth. "I'll handle everything."
He hung up the line, his face stormy, already preparing to issue an emergency command to the G1 Branch—
When a calm hand stopped him.
"Don't be reckless, Sengoku. Calm yourself," said Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Marine Chief of Staff.
"Calm down? After this?!" Sengoku barked. "The Five Elders are right—we've coddled Fairy Tail too long! We let them keep pushing boundaries! Maybe if we'd crushed them back during the East Blue incident—"
"—Then you've learned nothing from the East Blue Branch 16 debacle," Tsuru interrupted sharply.
Sengoku froze mid-sentence, stunned into silence.
"Think carefully," Tsuru continued. "Has Fairy Tail—or that man—ever done evil for no reason?"
"The Sabaody Celestial Dragon affair. Enies Lobby. Don't those count?" Sengoku shot back.
Tsuru ignored him.
"We already understand Fairy Tail's pattern of behavior—what kind of requests they accept, and which they reject. The cause of this G5 incident is still unclear. It's too early to draw conclusions."
She folded her arms.
"That man wouldn't act without reason. Besides, he didn't strike immediately—he gave us two days. That means he doesn't truly intend to destroy the base."
"In any case," she added, "I've already contacted Gion. Since G5's communication isn't cut, we can still reach them. Let's confirm the situation first and then decide our response."
Under the steady reasoning of the wise Vice Admiral Tsuru,
Sengoku's anger finally cooled.
Two hours later—
"What did you just say?!" Sengoku's eyes nearly burst from his head.
"Vergo—the base chief of G5—colluded with Caesar Kuron, the culprit of the Punk Hazard gas disaster two years ago?! He was secretly kidnapping children for human gigantification experiments?!"
"Yes, sir," Brandon confirmed gravely.
"I suspected this situation might be unusual," Tsuru said, shaking her head, "but I didn't expect it to be this severe. A Marine base leader conspiring with criminals to traffic children for illegal human experiments—if this leaks to the public, Marine's reputation will suffer a catastrophic blow."
She sighed softly. "Compared to that, Sugisawa Yuuto's actions were almost merciful. He's left us at least a scrap of dignity."
"But… this is still only his side of the story," Sengoku argued, shaking his head. "I've known Vergo for years—he's an honest man. He doesn't seem like someone who'd do something so vile!"
"Sengoku," Tsuru said sternly, "since when did you start making judgments based on impressions?"
"Check the incident reports about missing children from the last two years—ever since Vergo took command of G5."
Within minutes, Brandon brought over a thick folder.
According to Vergo's own reports, all missing children had died in shipwrecks.
But now—
those same children, previously listed as dead,
had been found alive at G5 Fortress—rescued by Sugisawa Yuuto himself.
The comparison records were irrefutable.
"Even so…" Sengoku muttered weakly, "that doesn't prove Vergo colluded with Caesar. Maybe it was just negligence…"
"Marshal Sengoku!" Brandon shouted suddenly, face pale. "We've confirmed it—Vice Admiral Vergo and all officers loyal to him have confessed! The missing children were indeed being hidden for those experiments! And there's more—rumors say Vergo was a deep-cover operative planted in the Marines by an unknown organization!"
Sengoku froze.
His pupils contracted sharply.
"...What?!"
The entire command room fell silent.